“Huckleberry was on death row, scheduled to be killed, and through a series of fortunate events, he was pulled out just hours before he was supposed to be put down. I was supposed to foster a different dog, a dog I knew I wasn’t going to fall in love with, but ended up getting him instead. The rest is history. He’s such a fantastic dog. Best decision ever.” - Dorothy Yen.

Dogs are placed in kill shelters daily and many of them don’t make it out alive. The organization PetConnect Rescue tries to find homes for the displaced animals. Every other Sunday, Yen and seven Bullis students volunteer for the organization. Sandrita Borckardt (‘14), Alessandra Clark (‘13), Nadia Fallahi (’13), Kristina Frye (‘13), Jai Paton (‘13), Will Stroup (‘13), and Oriana Theo (‘14) are among the National Honors Society (NHS) members that join Yen. The group goes to a farm called Muddy Paws in Damascus, MD, and interacts with mistreated dogs.

The farm Muddy Paws takes in dogs that come from kill shelters and abusive situations. These dogs have never gotten the chance to properly interact with humans. The Bullis students help the farm socialize dogs and give them experience interacting with people. They help train the dogs by teaching them basic commands. Leash walking is one of the simple tasks that Bullis students help familiarize the dogs with. The students also bathe the dogs frequently. Yen and the students have helped the farm a lot and they enjoy themselves while doing it.

Jai Paton ('13) and Will Stroup ('13) bathing a rescue dog

Another aspect of the organization that Yen is involved with is dog transports. She personally takes dogs from kill shelters and brings them to foster homes. Most of the kill shelters are down south, many are in Virginia; these shelters euthanize dogs on a daily basis, some of them killing dogs every Thursday. Yen drops the dogs that have been pulled from the shelters at foster homes where they will live until they are adopted. “Muddy Paws has been a great experience,” said Clark. “I am always looking forward to going.” Volunteering to go to Muddy Paws is only available to NHS members, but Yen hopes to expand the community service opportunity to the larger student body starting next school year. You must be at least 16 years of age to volunteer at the farm. Not all dogs are as lucky as Huckleberry, Yen’s dog. Every day, dogs are placed into kill shelters and sit on death row, their fate resting in the hands of people like you and me. “Consider adopting a rescue dog as a pet,” Yen urges, “you can save a life.”